Films: Rate and Discuss

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time - 9/10

Just a fun action movie. The comedy is subtle but well added. You wont laugh hysterically, its enough to make you smile.

Fairly well adapted from the game. Its not got all the parkour elements of course, and the fighting isnt as it was, but its all there enough to make you see that theyve taken aspects of the game and incorporated them.

The dagger is the star of course, and the time control is incorporated well if not enough. It reminds me more of the 2008 game than the others. Hero meets heroine, hero falls for heroine.

But what a heroine. Gemma Arterton seriously makes you proud to be British. She may surpase Kate Beckinsale as my ultimate woman. She steals every shot. You just cant keep your eyes off her.

Jake Gyllenhal, whilst a bit of a douche in my books, actually does a pretty good job as the Prince, even if his accent is..well..its rubish. Youre not English, so dont try to be Jake. But he does have the ability to do his own stunts which is always evident, not alot of CGI here or stunt doubles, and at the same time be charming and comical like the Prince is. But again, that links it to the 2008 game rather than the previous ones. So if you played that game and thought the Prince was a bit of a jerk, thats kind of how you'll feel about this Prince.

Sometimes you just want to scream 'get on with it!', but its a film that is heavily influenced by the stylings of Indiana Jones; that action mixed with comedy mixed with great melee fighting scenes from the likes of Gladiator.

Some will hate it, some will love it. Personally I loved it. And I now love Mrs Arterton.
 
Eastern Promises - 8/10
One of the better mob movies I've seen, and probably the only one that didn't feature a single gun. Viggo's accent was a lot less distracting that I thought it'd be, he obviously put a lot of effort into the role. That signature Cronenberg violence is there and as visceral as ever, but like History it takes a back seat to the drama, which is brilliantly acted throughout.

My only criticism is that it seems a bit short, even if the running time comes in at an hour and a half. The third act isn't exactly rushed, but it leaves a lot to the imagination, and the conclusion is simply implied instead of being shown in detail. Before that point the movie excelled at building a sense of tension at the coming events, so it's a bit disappointing that it amounts to almost nothing in the end.
 
How To Do Special Effects 101 OR
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 6/10

At least in modern times, the only thing this movie has going for it is its special effects. The story is mainly forgettable and at sometimes really aggravating. The characters are flat and stagnant. And, in the end, the movie left me with a lot of questions. But this isn't what the movie is about. The story and characters are merely there to delay the ending sequence, which was spectacular. Still today, the effects are dazzling and rich. Sure, you could kind of tell what the tall alien at the end was actually made out of, but it was engrossing for sure.

Was it worth the 120+ minutes of watching just for the effects? Maybe. I'm sure I'll never see this movie again, and that's not a bad thing. But I do feel everyone should see this movie, if only to compare technology and how the advancement of CGI does not lead to better visuals. Moreover, this movie will help you respect other alien movies because this is the cliche, it is the original; this movie alone has sculpted countless films.
 
Prince of Persia - 6/10...
It was fun and it was forgettable.
The acting was pretty iffy by nearly everyone, especially by Gyllenhal who used a painfully forced English accent.
The story seemed like a mix of the first three games, it was interesting enough to keep me from dozing off during the dialogue heavy scenes.
The action was alright, could've used more gravity defying moves by the prince and more dagger of time usage but it was still decent enough, not to mention it had some great chase scenes and a few very Indiana Jones-esque sequences.

I should've waited for it to come on DVD really.

Transformers 2 - 6.5/10...

Uh?... How exactly is this any worse than the first movie?
It had much more robot on robot action and shit.

Oh wait, do people actually care about the plot? I was too busy watching giant robots kicking the shit out of each other to even notice.
Although, when they paused the action for some talking... the dialogue was either unintentionally funny or cringeworthy.

Totally worth the rental.
 
Bridge to Terabithia - 7/10

Sad movie is sad. The acting was okay. It's not Pan's Labyrinth, but still a nice movie. Plus, T-1000 is a father, that's awesome! AnnaSophia Rob is cute.

11'09"01 September 11 - 7/10

I rewatched this. It's a bunch of short movies. They remind me Stephen King's shorts from 90s. I love Ernest Borgnine's part. He's such a great actor. In fact, I rewatched this for his performance.
 
Barnz said:
Bridge to Terabithia - 7/10

Sad movie is sad. The acting was okay. It's not Pan's Labyrinth, but still a nice movie. Plus, T-1000 is a father, that's awesome! AnnaSophia Rob is cute.
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Sad movie is very sad. :( I didn't know what it was going into it, and cried a whole lot.
 
Knowing - Facepalm/10

It was all going fairly well.

And then...

Aliens take the ''chosen'' to another planet to ''restart'' humanity? REALLY? Oh for...Though the end of the world was much more realistic and better looking than something like 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow.
 
Lucid said:
Prince of Persia - 6/10...
It was fun and it was forgettable.
The acting was pretty iffy by nearly everyone, especially by Gyllenhal who used a painfully forced English accent.
The story seemed like a mix of the first three games, it was interesting enough to keep me from dozing off during the dialogue heavy scenes.
The action was alright, could've used more gravity defying moves by the prince and more dagger of time usage but it was still decent enough, not to mention it had some great chase scenes and a few very Indiana Jones-esque sequences.
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I thought the acting was ok-ish. Even though I originaly thought it was a terrible idea to cast Jake, I think he did a decent job as the prince. Although I have to agree his "accent" was just ugh...
Overall a watchable action/adventure flik, definitely better than Clash of the Titans in my opinion. I would rate it a solid 7 out of 10.


Dynasty said:
And then...

Aliens take the ''chosen'' to another planet to ''restart'' humanity? REALLY? Oh for...Though the end of the world was much more realistic and better looking than something like 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow.
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Hahahah

....

NO
 
Oh come on.

Something like that COULD happen, and is more likely to happen surely?

Actually, ***k it, we could all die in 10 seconds from now.

If you know we won't, could I get the winning lottery numbers while you're at it?
 
Dynasty said:
Oh come on.

Something like that COULD happen, and is more likely to happen surely?
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Sure, a gigantic solar flare that can scorch the entire surface of the Earth can happen. *has trouble keeping a straight face*
 
The Tooth Fairy - 2/10

Painful. Bad acting, bad effects and bad story. One of the worst family films I have ever seen. The 2 points are for a decent performance from Stephen Merchant even though he must have known it wasn't worth the effort he put in.

Harry Brown - 8/10

Really enjoyed this. Sure it has some questionable plot points but overall it hit the mark. The guy that played the head gang leader really made you hate him. Caine was excellent as usual.
 
Star Trek - 10/10

Holy shit that was a good film. One of the best I've seen in the past few years. All the acting was top notch, the plot line was really cool, the visuals and special effects were just mind blowing, and Simon Pegg as Scotty. I was just glued to the screen from start to finish, there hasn't been that many films that has had that effect on me. Awesome.

Death at a Funeral (American remake) - 7/10

It wasn't half bad actually, considering its a remake of a great British comedy. The cast was top notch but I just don't think they pulled off their characters very well, especially the guy who was whining about his rash on his hand, he was just getting on my nerves. I enjoyed it, but I just kept on thinking that scene there was a lot better on the original or that scene was much better acted on the original, which is why I find them completely pointless. Better than most remakes anyway.
 
Shift said:
Star Trek - 10/10

Holy shit that was a good film. One of the best I've seen in the past few years. All the acting was top notch, the plot line was really cool, the visuals and special effects were just mind blowing, and Simon Pegg as Scotty. I was just glued to the screen from start to finish, there hasn't been that many films that has had that effect on me. Awesome.
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NO. NO NO NO NO NO.
 
Surrogates 8/10

Cool concept, nice amount of action, but rather dull at times. There were many times when I was like, "Ugh you could just do it this way!!" But overall I liked it for what its worth. its been a while when a quasi sci-fi movie was done well and this could be herded into the Minority Report/I-Robot category where it was cool but not overwhelming with the sci fi.
 
Star Trek was awesome.
I've watched it countless times already and it's not getting old, everyone I've shown it to had a blast watching it too.

From Paris with Love - 7.5/10...
Immensely entertaining and pretty funny, especially John Travolta talking like a wigger.

Could've been an 8 had it left out the insanely stupid plot twist.
 
Robin Hood - 7/10

a fun, modern twist on the old tale
could've been a tad shorter, with better editing in places
but overall, I enjoyed it
and... a sequel?
 
Shift said:
HOW can you not like that film? For once a film that is just a lot of fun to watch from start to finish, we need more films like this.
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It was pretty cheezy in a way ST wasn't and the ending was predictable and lame.
 
Well I never watched the original star trek films butttt my dad is like a hardcore fan of them and was convinced it would be utter rubbish in comparison but even he said it was very good.
 
Eejit said:
Wait.

What?
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This.

In my opinion it was good. I would go as far as to say almost on par with Wrath of Khan.

I would really like it if they made a series with these new actors instead of another movie.
 
i liked it too and i would watch a star trek series with the new actors :)
 
The new ST film was awesome.

Truly did the series justice.

And you just know that when the Enterprise came on the screen for the first time in space, some geek in the theatre blew his load.
 
I'll agree that the acting was, for the most part, good and even the effects were great.

But the plot was so contrived, convenient, and just ****ing godawful. I can't stand movies that have terrible villains with no real motive.
 
I thought Deep Space Nine was perhaps the best of the modern Trek series'. Voyager was pretty on and off. It was either flat out abysmal or absolutely terrific. I can't bring myself to watch the Original Series.

I found the recent Star Trek film to be pretty good. I think it certainly opens up an interesting premise (of course it does, it changes the entire history of the universe it is set in). I'd have to agree with Yorick about Nero, though. Damn, looking back on it, he really was a terribly one-dimensional shell of a villain. But I think it did a pretty decent job re-establishing the core characters, their relationships, and their personal conflicts. The destruction of Vulcan was a pretty big risk to take. I liked it.

Lindelof is co-writing the sequel. That makes me happy.
 
Yorick said:
I'll agree that the acting was, for the most part, good and even the effects were great.

But the plot was so contrived, convenient, and just ****ing godawful. I can't stand movies that have terrible villains with no real motive.
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Exactly the way I felt. "My planet blew up so I'm going to hunt down the one person who actually tried to save it and blow his planet up before the Spock in his time had even done anything wrong not that he ever did anything wrong in any time lol." UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I especially love the bit where he's like, "it did happen, I saw it happen!" Yeeeah, for a guy who'll go to great lengths to travel through time he doesn't have a very solid grasp of how it works.

Edit: I've linked this before, but Red Letter Media (the guys who did those Star Wars videos) have reviews of most of the newer Star Trek movies. I haven't actually seen em but going by this they're pretty dumb too.
 
Well he just saw his entire planet wiped out along with his family and all other relations he has, his entire race of people and their history, after this guy claimed he could save it, so I think he is going to be a bit pissed off at him.
 
Seriously. There's "emotional response" and then there's "trans-time counter-genocide." One of these things my suspension of disbelief will not accommodate.
 
The stupidest thing about the story is, you'd expect them to go and try to warn their homeworld of the future disaster, instead of going after revenge against a man who didn't actually do anything...
 
I'm probably just remembering it wrong, but I had thought he wasn't aware/sure of the whole 'I just traveled through time thing'.
 
Generation Kill (all of them) 10/10

I liked it. Sure, combat scenes are lacking, but it was certainly better than The Pacific.

Unfortunately, I kept losing track of the characters, possibly because there's just too many of them. The only ones I could recognize at the end was the driver who never shut up, the guy who was Mexican, Native American, and everything other than white combined, the journalist, the psycho baby killer, and Captain America.

Seriously, this kinda gave me some insight into western culture, and the US military. Kudos to all of you white men; you certainly know how to conduct warfare.

Also reminds me why being friends with the US is a very, very good thing.
 
Just watched these for the first time.

Boondock Saints - 6/10

This movie is so horribly 90s. Over-dramatic editing, dreadfully dated music, and a plot that doesn't concern itself with such trifling details as "who are these guys" or "why the crap are they doing this," as with just trying to be cool as ****. And... it actually works, for the most part. The two leads are charming enough, and Rocco plays the loveable asshole well, but Dafoe totally steals the show. ****ing loved him. So, while I don't necessarily find myself agreeing with all of the praise it's garnered, I did find it genuinely enjoyable despite not having aged incredibly well.

The same can't be said for...

Boondock Saints 2 - 4/10

Uggghhh. Okay, this movie isn't bad perse, but dear god does it try to be. On a purely technical level, there's nothing overtly wrong with it, in fact it actually contends fairly well with the original in some respects. The two leads are still in good form, the Rocco replacement isn't half bad, even Billy does an okay job with much more screen time (even though there's no way I can take him seriously in this role). The problem is how completely, distractingly self-referential it is. When it's not straight up copying scenes from the original, it's making references to things people (probably) loved about it so as to try and capture some of it's charm. This might have worked if it wasn't done so transparently, but as it is it just makes these scenes more and more cringe-worthy with each successive throwback. The worst and most prevalent of these is the Dafoe stand-in, who is so horribly acted as to drag down the entire movie. More than this, they make her so glaringly identical that her character 'twist' can be seen a mile away, while adding basically nothing to the plot. In fact, her entire existence is called into question when (spoilers) Dafoe himself makes a ****ing cameo at the end. THEN WHY NOT BRING HIS GODDAMN CHARACTER BACK IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO MAKE AN INFINITELY MORE ANNOYING FEMALE COPY? (especially since they already did "Dafoe but as a woman" in the original... *shudder*)

But, again, it wasn't really bad (except for not-Dafoe), just very flawed. Despite all it's best efforts to destroy it, it does still carry some of the charm of the original, and it can be pretty enjoyable when they're not just trying to milk the nostalgia value.

Oh, one more thing though - did we really need a backstory for Il Duce? I mean, they didn't even bother developing him until the last ten minutes of the original, but OKAY HERE'S HIS LIFE STORY BECAUSE WHY NOT. Like, they couldn't have given us some history on, oh, I don't know, THE ****ING SAINTS? Their name is kind of right there in the title and yet they went two movies without bothering to explain how they're so adept at shooting large groups of people with incredible accuracy from ridiculously disadvantageous positions? Oh wait, I guess it's because they're the protagonists lol.
 
15357 said:
Generation Kill (all of them) 10/10

I liked it. Sure, combat scenes are lacking, but it was certainly better than The Pacific.
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it's not, per-se, a film about combat. it's about the men, it isn't a black hawk down.

Unfortunately, I kept losing track of the characters, possibly because there's just too many of them. The only ones I could recognize at the end was the driver who never shut up, the guy who was Mexican, Native American, and everything other than white combined, the journalist, the psycho baby killer, and Captain America.
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really? if there's one thing my fanboyish bias for david simon has, it's that compared to most TV shows he - and the actors as well obviously - know how to portray great characterization and through this create truly unique people, even through they are based on real folk. i urge you to read the book and look at the pictures and it is jawdropping how accurate they are.

there are many war films i can think of that have shown bad direction towards characters - notably more rambo style films such as blawk hawk down (whose characters are only really distinguishable because each and every one of them is basically played by a famous actor that you've no doubt seen before) and, as you mention it, the pacific. too many war films focus far too much on fighting and action which, fair enough, it is a war film after all, but there's a lot more to war then that and it's evident in generation kill.

Seriously, this kinda gave me some insight into western culture, and the US military. Kudos to all of you white men; you certainly know how to conduct warfare.
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i... don't think you have really got the point of the show here. it's basically a documentary of how badly the US is at warfare. civilian shootings, incompetent officers with itchy trigger fingers, changes in the ROE at the drop of a coin, unreliable information and subsequently bad consequences via bombings/air strikes, meat headed attitudes towards another country, terrible, unmaintained and outdated equipment... i could go on.

Also reminds me why being friends with the US is a very, very good thing.
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see above. imagine an invasion of south korea by the US (let's pretend) combined with all of the above happening. horrifying, i can't even imagine what the iraqi people must of felt like and still feel now.

sorry for the pick-apart/rant, but i'm a big fan of the show y'see.
 
Hmm, maybe I should go watch through it again. And get the book, of course. :)

i... don't think you have really got the point of the show here. it's basically a documentary of how badly the US is at warfare. civilian shootings, incompetent officers with itchy trigger fingers, changes in the ROE at the drop of a coin, unreliable information and subsequently bad consequences via bombings/air strikes, meat headed attitudes towards another country, terrible, unmaintained and outdated equipment... i could go on.
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But they still succeed. I mean, I thought that was the point. They still win despite the lack of logistic support, people like Captain America, etc.

Also, I felt bad for Captain America, because everybody hated him despite him trying his best, until he tried to stab a guy with a bayonet - at which point my growing suspicions of the man being a complete utter retard were confirmed.

there are many war films i can think of that have shown bad direction towards characters - notably more rambo style films such as blawk hawk down (whose characters are only really distinguishable because each and every one of them is basically played by a famous actor that you've no doubt seen before) and, as you mention it, the pacific. too many war films focus far too much on fighting and action which, fair enough, it is a war film after all, but there's a lot more to war then that and it's evident in generation kill.
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Yes, this was one of the reasons I enjoyed GK. There are people in it.

But the reason that I couldn't keep track of the characters might be that you white men look all the same to me. :p

When I watched it, the changes in ROE, the misbombings, the lack of equipment, the retard officers - they didn't actually matter. The marines still kept on fighting and moved on despite those things. I mean, to me, they were nothing more than small obstacles in which those marines had to overcome to achieve victory. I thought of the series as a brotherhood of men struggling but still coming through in the end despite all, and still able to maintain a happy face, homoerotic jokes and all.
 
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